The dry strength of a paper towel or tissue is often dictated by the required wet strength of the product in-use. In particular, the MD dry tensile may be higher than needed in order to provide sufficient CD wet strength which, as one of skill in the art will appreciate adversely affects softness of the towel. One approach to ameliorating the softness/wet strength conflict is through the use of wet strength resins, in combinations, for example, such as a cationic wet strength resin and a hydrophobically modified anionic polyelectrolyte. See U.S. Pat. No. 7,041,197 to Kokko et al.
The CD wet/dry ratio tensile is a convenient parameter by which to characterize absorbent paper products, it being noted that higher wet/dry CD tensile ratios are desirable, for example, in order to provide for softer paper toweling. It has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,476 to Goulet et al. that the wet/dry tensile of throughdried tissue and towels can be increased by treating the pulp with a debonder, a wet strength agent and a dry strength agent.
Chemical debonders, also referred to as softeners, are frequently employed in the manufacture of paper tissue and towel. One preferred debonder composition includes a softener system comprising an ion-paired mixture of an anionic surfactant and a cationic quaternary ammonium compound. Details are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,197 to Oriaran et al. Typically, debonders are added to the papermaking furnish at relatively low fiber consistencies, such as are seen in a stock chest or a machine chest. In this regard, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,813 to Smith et al.; note FIG. 1 thereof wherein hardwood fiber is treated with debonder. Note also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,768 to Hermans et al., Example 9, Col. 13 wherein kraft hardwood fiber is treated with debonder in a shaft disperser.
The following patents also disclose papermaking processes wherein a debonder composition is added after the fiber has been pulped: U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,995 to Ikeda et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,494 to Seger et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,962 to Osborn, III.
It has been suggested to pre-treat high yield fiber with a combination of oil and surfactant, prior to making absorbent sheet. In this regard reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,218 to Hsu et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,527, also to Hsu et al. According to the '218 and '527 patents, a pulp slurry is treated at elevated temperature with oil and surfactant in order to produce softer products.
It will be appreciated by one of skill in the art that the prior art is replete with pulp treatments seeking to provide a softer and/or stronger product. In this regard, the following references are noted generally: United States Patent Publication No. 2003/0024669 (U.S. Ser. No. 09/852,997) entitled “Use of Hydrophobically Modified Polyaminamides With Polyethylene Glycol Esters in Paper Products” of Kokko; United States Patent Publication No. 2002/0162635 (U.S. Ser. No. 10/143,674) entitled “Softer and Higher Strength Paper Products and Methods of Making Such Products” of Hsu; United States Patent Publication No. 2002/0088575 (U.S. Ser. No. 09/942,468) entitled “Enzymatic Treatment of Pulp to Increase Strength” of Lonsky et al.; United States Patent Publication No. 2004/0123962 (U.S. Ser. No. 10/335,133) entitled “Amino-Functionalized Pulp Fibers” of Shannon et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,582,560 entitled “Method for Using Water Insoluble Chemical Additives with Pulp and Products Made By Said Method” to Runge et al. See also United States Patent Publication No. 2003/0159786 (U.S. Ser. No. 10/389,073) entitled “Method For Using Water Insoluble Chemical Additives with Pulp and Products Made by Said Method” of Runge et al.; United States Patent Publication No. 2004/0045687 (U.S. Ser. No. 10/242,571) entitled “Method for Using Water Insoluble Chemical Additives With Pulp and Products Made by Said Method” of Shannon et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,109 entitled “Softened Comminution Pulp” to Gross; and United States Patent Publication No. 2002/0074097 (U.S. Ser. No. 10/017,361) entitled “Softened Comminution Pulp”, also to Gross.
While numerous chemical packages are available for increasing softness, wet strength and the like, additives are expensive, can make processing difficult, foul equipment and so forth. Indeed, in many cases, it is not possible to use high levels of additives; for example, in wet-press processes, the amount of debonder added by conventional means is limited to such amounts that will not interfere substantially with adhesion of the web to a rotating cylinder; typically no more than 4-5 lbs of debonder per ton of fiber can be used.